Monsters
by Rex Madison
Summary: When we last left The Mastermind, the villain had won, and the hero was in dire straits. Who better to muck things up with a happy ending than Rex Madison...? (Based on The Mastermind by Nanomemes; massive spoilers. Rated R, but only for language - the rest is PG-13.)
1. The Line

Notes

See? I _told_ you I liked this story. ;)

Several things about Mastermind inspired this, really. First and foremost was Blue Mary's death - not just because it was sad, but because the author didn't even _want_ it. That alone might've gotten this written...but the fantastic Chizuru that came with it sealed the deal. I wanted to give her her comeuppance. I wanted to explore her perspective. And I _really_ wanted to explore her psychic abilities, which I didn't even know she _had_ until that fic.

This followup starts at the end of Chapter 14, when Iori and "Mary" reach Mary. It shouldn't change the events of Chapter 15 at all. I tried to keep the characters true to their Mastermind selves, but I think they turned out a bit serious (as mine often do). I don't think it'll spoil the fic for you, though; this is some pretty serious shit to begin with, lol.

This one's for you, Nano. (next time ill ask first kek)

Hope you enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 1 - The Line

"That's her."

The red-haired man shifted the car into park with a clack. He stared forward listlessly. A cigarette hung from between his lips. He'd been like this ever since Madame Kagura told him to dispose of the imposter. Mary initially feared he'd refuse outright, but he succumbed after a bit of coaxing.

...but things aren't always exactly as they appear.

Iori had serious misgivings about this assignment. "Destroy the clone," Kagura had said...but _how_ many times had he done that now? Wave after wave of pale copies of his nemesis, beaten to death or ripped to shreds by his bare hands. None of them had deserved it; most of them barely even fought. But they were in his way, and so they had to be destroyed.

This one was _not_ in his way.

 _A clone that can shapeshift,_ he'd mused, as they drove to its location. Apparently NESTS was getting more dangerous, despite his and Kyo's best efforts. But _this_ clone had already turned into someone. It had found a target, copied her DNA, stolen her memories and ran. Would it really shapeshift again, after all that? _Could_ it, even?

Of course that'd be dangerous enough, if it had chosen someone with power.

But it had chosen Blue Mary.

It was ridiculous, really. Absolutely idiotic. He and Kyo could set things on fire by _blinking_. Bogard could channel a gigaton blast through the ground; Sakazaki - all three of them! - could throw megatons through the air. Even that Asamiya girl could make herself invincible for a second. But _Mary_? What could she do? Choke people to death, thirty seconds at a time?

This thing just wasn't a threat right now. And if it couldn't shapeshift again, it never would be. So there weren't many reasons to destroy it, really. There was Vengeance, of course, since it had hurt Mary badly; then there was Justice, since its death would give her her life back.

And...he really didn't give a shit?

Iori didn't care about Blue Mary. He barely _knew_ her, could barely pick her out of a lineup. He mostly remembered her as Bogard's girl - and he didn't give a shit about _him_ , either. Give the real Mary her life back? Sure, why not; no harm done. But take the imposter's? Kill _another_ goddamn clone, who'd never asked to be born and never hurt anyone he cared about? He'd rather just give it a stern talking to.

...but there was another reason to do it. Another reason for him to kill - or to die, or just about anything else. That reason was that Chizuru Kagura had told him to. And he would follow her to the ends of the Earth.

"Alright. I'll take it out. Stay in the car. Don't want it to turn into Godzilla or some shit," he grumbled (though he seriously doubted it could). "If it does, call the fire department and get the hell out." He waved his hand at the keys and threw open the door; she nodded and took his seat as he left it.

Chizuru had suggested he just blow up the car and be done with it. But Mary had wanted it done discreetly, and Iori had agreed. He'd picked out an outfit for the occasion, a green hoodie with the hood pulled up and some baggy gray sweatpants. He was hoping the clone wouldn't recognize him, or at least not as a threat. If it didn't, he could get it in his sights and burn it to ashes right there; then Mary could just brush them off the seat and take its place.

Of course, if the clone _did_ recognize him, things would get messy. But he knew he could take it, Godzilla or no Godzilla. ...and if it ran instead? _Then_ he would start blowing things up.

He stalked toward the clone's - _Mary's_ \- patrol car, death in his eyes...

...and then it opened the door.

 _Shit._ He backed up quickly, ducking down behind the trunk of the car. Seconds later, "Mary" got out of it, looking like a woman _forcing_ herself to relax. She stretched her arms over her head, then walked out of the street and into a parking lot, heading in the direction of a nearby bar.

Iori growled to himself. So much for his perfect plan; now if he burned the imposter, everybody on the block would notice. (Of course, everybody on _this_ block at _this_ time of night was a drunk...but _somebody_ might believe them.) He had no choice but to hang back, let it enter the bar, and see what it did, watching it through the window.

Luckily, it made a beeline for the restrooms.

 _Perfect,_ he thought grimly. He turned to Mary and motioned for her to stay in the car, then followed "Mary" inside, quickly but casually. A sign near the restrooms said Customers Only, so he tossed the bartender some cash and ordered a beer without stopping. He then walked right past him and into the back of the bar, ready to end this irritating job...

* * *

Mary took longer in the restroom than she normally would've, enjoying her moment of peace. The last two weeks had been a living hell; she needed every moment of peace she could get. Bad enough that one of the monsters hated her now, and that she could rarely convince herself she wasn't about to be killed. But thanks to Chizuru's mental time bomb, she couldn't even trust her own _thoughts_ \- and probably wouldn't for the rest of her life.

Would she reveal Chizuru's terrible secret someday? In a rage, or just on accident? Maybe she'd _intend_ to accidentally, and kill herself that way. ...maybe she'd just snap and kill herself on purpose. Hell, maybe the whole "contract" was total crap. Chizuru had _broken her mind_ ; she could've made her believe anything.

But those thoughts weren't hurting her right now. She'd chased them away a moment ago, and they'd actually stayed hidden for once. As she stood and flushed the toilet, she smiled again, looking forward to a nice, thoughtless evening at home.

Then she opened the stall door, and came face-to-face with Iori Yagami.

"...oh, _fuck_ ," she breathed, her face draining of all color.

The man didn't seem angry. More like annoyed, really. But nevertheless he asked her, "Any last words, imposter?"

Mary blinked. "Imposter...?"

"Cut the crap," Iori barked. "I know what you are. The runaway NESTS clone, trying to steal Blue Mary's life now that you _think_ you've caused her death. ...you fucked up by the way, she's sitting right outside."

Like a true detective, Mary put the pieces together fast. Chizuru must've made a _copy_ of her, either with NESTS technology or just that damn mirror of hers. That's why she'd waited two weeks - so she could get the thing ready. Now she'd sent Iori here with kill orders, just as Mary had feared...and worse, she'd be _replaced_ afterwards, and no one would ever be the wiser.

But the worst part was, it didn't even mean the "contract" was crap.

She didn't know what _really_ happened. She couldn't trust her thoughts. Chizuru could've made her _think_ she'd bound herself too, just to stall for time. And even if she _was_ bound, there could still be loopholes. What if she'd told the fake Mary the "story" and let her get pissed off on her own? And then said, "Oh, by the way, I just happen to know a guy that's good at getting rid of people you're pissed off at"?

Mary figured all this out in the space of two seconds. The only thing she _couldn't_ figure out was what to _do_ about it.

"...this isn't what it looks like, Iori," she began lamely. "You've got the wrong woman."

He just looked at her, deadpan.

"I'm serious!" Mary exclaimed, wanting to scream but knowing it wouldn't help. "I'm not the imposter. _She_ is!"

"Why the hell should I believe that...?" Iori sighed, looking tired.

"I...I can't tell you," she said, wincing and shaking her head. "There's something wrong with my _mind_. ...I think. And if I - "

"Actually, lemme rephrase that," he interrupted. "I should've said 'Why should I _care_."

"...huh?"

"Blue Mary, not Blue Mary...whatever. Not my problem," he shrugged. "Frankly I think you two should fight it out yourselves. But the thing is, if you _are_ a clone...I've got a different problem."

"But I'm _not_ \- "

And that was all Mary got out before a wall of purple flames appeared in front of her.

She yelped sharply. She couldn't help it. "Scream and you're dead," it prompted Iori to growl...but she doubted she could help _that_ , either. She tried to escape, turning around to hop on the toilet and over the stall - but he cut her off, putting up another wall of fire before she could get there. She couldn't jump over the stall from the floor; she couldn't fit into the gaps beneath it, either. She tried grabbing the top of one side and pulling herself up - but her hands were too shaky to do it.

Then the "walls" started closing in on her.

"Iori, it's not what you think!"

"Time's almost up, 'Mary'."

"I'm telling you, _I'm NOT the clone!_ "

"Either shapeshift or die. Your call."

"What the - !? I can't _shapeshift_!"

"You'd better learn how pretty quick, then."

The flames were very close, now. She could feel them on her arms, on her face...in her _throat_. "Don't _do_ this!" she pleaded. " _Stop!_ ...I'm _begging_ you...!"

"The real Mary wouldn't beg!" Iori snapped. He knew _that_ much.

"You don't know what I've been through‼" she screamed, her head shaking back and forth. "You don't know my last two weeks‼ _What they've done to me‼_ ...oh, _please_ don't kill me, Iori! And please...don't kill Terry...!" She was crying now, convulsing in sobs, only standing because she would've burned to death otherwise.

It didn't bother Iori, of course. Calmly, remorselessly, he brought the flames closer. Half a foot from her, now. Two inches. _One_ inch. A _half_.

...then he snapped his fingers, and the flames died immediately.

"Guess you can't shapeshift, then," he decided, as she stared in disbelief.

She fell to the ground a few seconds later, sobbing in relief this time. Meanwhile Iori walked towards her, a bitter scowl on his face. He'd nearly killed this stupid clone, this harmless lab experiment...this _person_. Just like he'd killed more people than he could count. More lab experiments. More _clones_.

...and he just couldn't do it this time. Not for Blue Mary. Not even for _her_.

Once he reached his former target, he reached out his hand to help her up. Sniffling, she took it, getting unsteadily to her feet. "So what's your story...?" he asked.

"I already told you. I can't tell you," she answered miserably. "My head is _completely_ fucked up right now. I don't know what would happen if I did."

"Well, whatever," he dismissed, rolling his eyes. "The point is, it's over now. You're done. You can't be Mary anymore."

She blinked again. "...what...?"

"That woman out there?" he said, pointing. " _That's_ Mary now. ...or Mary again, I dunno. Either way, there can't be two of you. And that one's got Kagura to vouch for her, so she wins."

Mary cringed. "Iori..."

"No," he cut her off, shaking his head. "She wants me to get rid of you. But if you step aside, it's pointless. So don't be Mary anymore. Be somebody else from now on."

"...but - "

"No."

"But I'm - !"

" _No._ "

She sighed, looked down for a moment...and closed her eyes.

"...will you take care of Terry?" she whispered. "And Anton? ...and Mai and Yuri and Céc and - "

"What am I, your babysitter?" he cut off again, scowling.

"Okay, okay," she yielded, holding up her hands. "Just...Terry. ...make sure she treats him alright. Alright?"

Iori stared at her for a second, then gave a terse nod.

" _Thank_ you," she gushed, breathing a sigh of relief. After a moment she looked back up at him, frowning. "So you two are leaving, then? In separate cars?" _Since she'll be taking my patrol car._

"That's the plan." _Since I didn't have to scrap hers._

"...guess you should go first, huh."

"Yep. Give it ten minutes or so."

"Okay," she said, nodding. "And Iori? ...thanks again. Thank you for...for everything."

"Not doing it for you," the mass murderer grunted.

With that Iori walked off, as Mary watched from her stall. When he reached the restroom door, a purple light flashed near the middle of the frame; apparently he'd gotten them privacy by _welding the lock into it_. Now melted completely, it let him pass right through, dribbling dabs of molten metal as he opened the door. And then he was gone...and Mary backed into the stall, sitting on the toilet and putting her head in her hands.

...it was the better option, she supposed. She'd rather her life be _ruined_ than over. And she'd gone undercover before, lots of times. ...this would just be a lifelong assignment, that's all (she choked back a sob). Her "replacement" probably wouldn't cause much trouble, either. Chizuru didn't have grudges against her _friends_ ; the clone would probably just try to fit in as much as possible.

Fit in with her boyfriend, for example.

...while _he_ fit in with _her_.

"Hey."

Mary yelped again, startled out of her misery. She looked up to find Iori standing at the stall door, looking down at her with pity and disgust in his eyes.

"I know someone who might help. If your mind's screwed up, I mean. She's a...business associate. You might know her too, though. Here's her number; give her a call when you can."

He threw a business card in her general direction. She scrambled to catch it, but missed, and it fell to the floor. By the time she picked it up, he was already gone.

" _That_ one's for you," he called from the exit. "...don't ask me why, I don't know either."

He shut the door, and she actually managed to smile a bit. Then she looked down at the card - and her smile faded, as her eyes widened.

She knew her, alright.

* * *

She took a taxi straight home, and packed up her most treasured possessions. (Along with her passport, and all her IDs. ...no reason to make things _easy_ on her successor.) She then walked to a nearby ATM, withdrawing all the funds she could from a secret savings account. From there she cut up her cards - if she used them again she'd blow her cover - and hopped on a bus, not knowing where it was going...or where to go from there.

As she rode, she called her only lead - the last call she would ever make with that phone. For ten tense seconds, no one answered; then a curious voice came through.

"Hello...?"

"Is this Athena? ...Asamiya, I mean."

"Yeees...and who's this?"

"It's Blue Mary. ...for now. And I need your help."

* * *

End Notes

...oh, come on, did you _really_ think I wouldn't shoehorn her into this!? She's a psychic too, damnit! (Though apparently not as good a one...)

This fic is already done, but it's long enough that I won't post it all at once. Expect updates every few days, once a week at the most. It should be three to five chapters, depending on whether they look long enough when I'm about to post :P And yes, it _will_ have a happy ending; sorry for those I'm disappointing, but it's just who I am.

If this fits into your canon, Nano, feel free to use it. If not, I hope you can enjoy anyway ^_^

See you next update!


	2. The Verdict

Notes

Running short on time, so notes're gonna be a bit chintzy.

This is kind of a transition chapter. Gets the characters to where _we_ are in terms of knowing what's up with the story. The first half's not so important - it's just some babbling about psychic powers (psychobabble?) mixed with some low-key detective work - so if it starts to grate, skip to the good part by doing a Ctrl-F for "brain". ;) As for the second half, try to bear with me for that one; it's more important to the story going forward, and it gets pretty good near the end.

Hope you enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 2 - The Verdict

The next morning, Mary was on a one-way flight to Osaka, damned glad she'd thought to bring her passport. She had picked up some new clothes - blue blouse, black pants, a maroon trenchcoat - and gotten a quick haircut, going from a bob to a pixie. Taking off the sunglasses she'd worn to complete the outfit, she looked wistfully out the window as the plane took off, trying to figure out where her life was headed. She couldn't come up with anything.

Fourteen godforsaken hours later, Mary emerged at the second terminal of Kansai International, her despair now thoroughly trumped by exhaustion. Luckily Athena had agreed to meet her nearby, at a cafe-slash-bar called Pronto in that very terminal. (Mary had asked if a bar would actually let Athena in...but she'd just sort of laughed.)

It took the tired, jetlagged woman quite some time to find it. But she did, eventually...and she spotted Athena at once, sipping a cup of tea in the back corner. She was wearing a disguise of her own - a frumpy brown overcoat with a green shawl around her head - but had purple hair peeking out from behind her neck. _We can't ALL be undercover agents,_ Mary thought dryly.

After an awkward conversation with a doorman that didn't know English, she entered the restaurant and walked back to the corner. Athena had her back turned to the door, so Mary called out a greeting before reaching her. She whirled around, looked up, and grinned in delight...but soon started gawking instead.

"You look... _different_!" she stammered.

"Tell me about it," Mary muttered. (She already missed her bobcut.) "You can tell it's me though, right? Mary? _Please_ tell me _you_ can tell."

"Yeees..." Athena assured her, frowning. Of _course_ she could tell; how couldn't she? Her _face_ was still the same, after all (not to mention her aura).

"Thank goodness," Mary sighed, falling into the chair across from her. "Maybe you really _can_ help me, then."

"Right to it, huh?" Athena giggled. But Mary just scowled in response, making Athena wince. "I mean...I knew it was urgent - you wouldn't have flown out here if it wasn't - but you didn't tell me much else, you know...?"

"Yeah, I know," Mary admitted, looking off to the side (and signaling a waiter). "I was rattled. I didn't know _how_ , yet. But I had a while to think about it during the flight - " _a very very very LONG while,_ she groused - "and I think I've figured out what I can say." She leaned her chin on her hands, steepling her fingers.

"You're a psychic, right, Athena?" Mary began. "So what - black coffee, please - what do you know about the mind?"

Athena cringed.

"...well, I'm not like the psychics in the comic books," she cautioned. "I can teleport across the _room_ , but not city limits. I can move this _chair_ with telekinesis, but not the whole bar. And while I can _communicate_ using telepathy...I can't really read minds."

Mary's shoulders sagged. "Really? Not even, like, memories...?"

"Nope. Sorry, Mary."

" _Damn._ " She let out a deep, dark sigh. "...okay, next tactic. You can see auras, right? And psychic energy in general?"

"Sure," Athena perked up, smiling.

"Let's say there was a... _charge_ of energy," Mary carefully went on. "Stored somewhere...permanently. You think you could see that?"

"Well, it depends on the _kind_ of energy - but yeah, probably."

"Good enough for me," said Mary, smiling too now. "Okay, now how about _other_ things? Like, seeing things from far away...or seeing _inside_ them?"

Athena frowned. "Well...not _exactly_. I can't extend my vision at all, and I can't _really_ see inside things. ...but I can see the waves."

"Waves?"

"It's when I'm using telekinesis," she explained. "If I just throw something, I don't even bother with it. But if I'm moving something _slowly_ , like picking a lock, I don't just feel it out - I use the _waves_ to help guide me. It's like...seeing without seeing. ...it's hard to describe," she finished lamely.

By that time, though, Mary's eyebrows had raised. "You, uh...you pick a _lot_ of locks, Athena?" she asked with a smirk.

"Wha - ? Uhh, _no_! Of course not‼" Athena cried, laughing nervously as she remembered she was talking to a _cop_.

"Just kidding, girl - don't worry about it," Mary told her, chuckling back. "Now, when you're seeing these 'waves'...can you see anything else? The real world? Auras? Energy, perhaps...?"

"Well, I can see the outer world, but only until I go in. ...I'm not sure about the other things; I've never really tried it."

"Could you? ...like, _now?_ "

Now _Athena's_ brow raised. "Umm...okay," she agreed cautiously.

She looked down at her hand, calling up the smallest bit of energy she could. Soon a pink light appeared in the middle of her teacup, bright enough to see but small enough that no one else would. (The word _monster_ flashed through Mary's mind...but she pushed it away.)

Then Athena's concentration seemed to double. Triple, even. Mary couldn't see it, but soon realized the psychic was using _both_ powers, straining to keep the light going while she focused on the "waves". Mary started to stop her, but then pulled back; this test was just too important.

"...I see it!" Athena finally cheered. She dropped both powers and sighed in relief as the light vanished. "I _could_ see it, even through the waves! ...it was a little bit blurry, but I could still make it out," she finished, grinning.

" _Perfect,_ " said Mary, with a grin of her own. "...okay. So. You can see most kinds of energy, even just sitting somewhere. You can see into things with telekinesis, using the 'waves'. And you can do both at once, so you'd see any energy you came across while you were in them."

"Seems like it," Athena agreed, looking quite pleased with herself.

"All right. Then here's the big one." Mary took a deep breath. "Have you ever tried using these 'waves'...to look into the brain?"

Athena blinked.

"...the brain?" she murmured. "I've...I've never even _thought_ about it."

"Could you do it?"

"I...I _guess_ so," she mumbled numbly. Her face had gone pale; she was staring into the distance. Clearly, she had made the connection: _she could move things in peoples' brains_. ...and clearly it scared the living crap out of her.

"Stay with me, Athena. Focus," Mary urged, snapping her fingers. "I need you to...can't believe I'm _saying_ this...I need you to use your telekinesis on my brain."

"What⁇" Athena exclaimed. "But - but _why!?_ " Then she made _that_ connection, and her jaw dropped. "...Mary...are you saying there's - "

"I didn't say that!" Mary cut off, waving her hands. "I don't know what's in there! I'm just talking in hypotheticals, here." And she was, she knew; otherwise the bomb would've gone off by now. (...if there _was_ one.)

"Mary, _no_. I've never _done_ that before! I have no idea what would happen!" Athena exclaimed. Then, whispering, she added, "...one wrong twitch and I could kill you...!"

"I'm prepared to take that risk," Mary said calmly.

"Well I am _not_ prepared to risk killing you," said Athena, shaking her head. "I'll - I'll do research. Ask Master Chin. Maybe try it on _Sie_ or something. But not you. Not now. No way. ...I'm sorry."

Gently, Mary reached out and took her hand.

"I know you don't want to hurt me, Athena," she began, her voice low. "And it's admirable. Really. ...but you don't know what it's _like_. Imagine not knowing what's wrong with your head. Imagine not trusting anything, even your thoughts. Imagine trying _not_ to think of something for two weeks straight. ...and then imagine that, on top of it, your life falls apart.

"Now I can start a new life. I am willing to go on. ...but I _cannot_ go on until I've answered this question. I need to know, _right now_ , if what I'm afraid of is real. And if you don't help me find out, you're pretty much killing me anyway.

"...so please, Athena. _Please_ take that risk for me. To be honest, it's practically no risk at all...because I'm practically already dead."

Her eyes were brimming with tears now...and Athena's were _swimming_ in them. She had never been so moved by so few words in her life. She'd never thought she'd risk accidentally killing someone, either...but she'd never even _considered_ that for some, death might be a blessing.

"Okay," she agreed, even as she shook her head at the idea. "I'll...I'll give it a shot."

"Thank you," Mary said quietly, squeezing her hand.

She sat back in her chair as Athena stood up from hers, taking a seat in one of the side chairs and scooting right next to her. She took some deep, calming breaths, then put her hands on Mary's head to help her focus. "...stay _absolutely still_ , okay?"

"Can I talk?"

"Yes, but quietly."

"Okay," Mary agreed, with one final nod.

And then they went still and silent, as Athena closed her eyes. Her heart racing, she called up her powers, reached out with her brain - and reached _into_ Mary's. Then she looked through the waves...and dropped her jaw, as she stared into a dizzying array of sparks, flashes and color.

"It's beautiful," she breathed.

"Focus," Mary whispered.

Nodding, Athena started riding the waves, more carefully than she ever had. Slowly she probed through the woman's brain, looking for anything (relatively) unusual. After a minute or so, Mary started getting squirmy - and Athena _saw_ it, saw her synapses firing as some tried to move her while others held her still. "...calm down..." she managed to soothe, even as her own heartrate went into overdrive.

Mary didn't nod, didn't speak. She just took a slow, deep breath, steeling what was left of her nerves. The examination went on for another tortuous minute...and then, slowly, Athena's head started to shake. "I don't see anything," she reported.

"Nothing?"

"Not _nothing,_ " she corrected. "But everything here looks the same, or at least pretty similar. There's no 'charges' of energy, nothing foreign at all. It's just... _beautiful_."

"...so nothing's wrong."

"No."

"Really."

"Nope."

" _Seriously._ "

"100%."

Silence.

"...that _bitch_ ‼" Mary howled, pounding the table with her fist as Athena frantically pulled back.

* * *

Over the next half hour, Mary told Athena her story. She _should've_ been making some _serious_ phone calls...but this story wanted _out_. With every new sentence, the psychic's shock and anger grew, soon threatening to tip over the boiling point. Mary actually had to calm her down a few times, when her aura grew strong enough to see with the naked eye.

When it was over, she stared at nothing again, her whole body shaking with rage. "That woman...she's...she's _horrible_!" Athena cried.

"Tell me about it."

" _Unforgivable!_ "

"No argument here."

"A _monster‼_ "

"My thoughts exactly," Mary agreed, her face grim. (She didn't tell Athena she'd thought the same thing about _her_...repeatedly, once her aura had started to flare.) "So. Who do we tell first?"

Athena blinked. "...huh?"

"The FBI? PSIA? Interpol, maybe?"

"Uhm...I'm not sure..."

"We _could_ call Amnesty International," Mary bitterly growled. "Or even better, the _Ikari_. They'd be pretty interested, huh?" Then she barked out a laugh. "Hell, let's just call up _Iori_! You have his number, right⁇"

"Mary. I think..."

"Oh, you've got one? Sure, go ahead. I'm all ears," Mary urged, her hand making a beckoning motion.

But Athena didn't see it. She'd looked down at the table, lost deep in dark thought. Finally, she looked up with the most pained expression on her face, her eyes once again swimming with tears.

"...I don't think we should tell anyone."

* * *

End Notes

Ohhh, _snap_ , lol. Did Rex just make _Athena Asamiya_ more morally ambiguous than Blue Mary⁇ ...hopefully I'll make it make sense next time, hehe.

See you next update!


	3. The Rebel

Notes

Things pick up a bit this chapter, especially if you like people yelling at each other. :) The first scene is one of the reasons I started this fic: I wanted to add a third, middle-ground perspective to Mastermind's moral conflict. I think Athena works well as one (you'll see why below) - but I admit, a lot of her views on the subject mirror my own. Sometimes I wonder if I put too much of myself into my favorite characters. ...I think _every_ writer wonders that at some point, though.

The scene takes up less of the chapter than I thought it would, actually. The followup scenes ran a bit longer than I'd planned. But they should still be fun to read, and at least now the chapter's a more reasonable length. ;P

Hope you enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 3 - The Rebel

For a few seconds, Mary just looked at her.

" _...what._ "

"We shouldn't tell anyone about this," Athena repeated, a tear leaking down her cheek. "Not the authorities, not the Ikari...definitely not Kyo and Iori."

"What in the _hell_ are you talking about!? You said it herself, she's unforgivable‼"

"She is," she agreed, scowling. "But there's just too much at stake."

Mary's eyes widened. "...are you siding with _her_ ⁇"

"Of course not!" Athena snapped, now scowling _at_ Mary instead of with her. "She did terrible things! She ruined their lives - ruined _your_ life! She deserves to go to jail until the day she dies!" ...and then she deflated, looking back down at the table. "But...she... _can't_."

" _Why!?_ "

"Because what's done is done," she said grimly. "There's no going back. Chizuru's actions have put things in a terrible balance. If anyone learns about them, the balance will snap. The courts would convict her. Heidern would blackmail her. Kyo and Iori would _kill_ her. ...instead, the world stands _with_ her...and because of that, the world is safe."

"Oh, my _gawd_ ," Mary groaned, her head falling back against her chair.

"Mary, don't you see? The world needs _all_ the Treasures to survive - and she's one of them! Even worse, she's the _last_ one...the last of the Yatas. If anything happens to her, the world is doomed!" Athena gushed, parroting the lie Mary had told her (which Mary thought to be true).

"Listen to me, Athena: Chizuru Kagura _broke the law_. She killed in cold blood right in front of me!" Mary snarled. "And she needs to be punished for her crimes!"

"No, she _deserves_ to be punished. She deserves prison time, or _worse_. But for the world to survive, she needs to be free. And for that...we can't tell anyone," Athena finished miserably.

Mary finished off her coffee, then slammed the cup back down.

"...this is ridiculous. _You_ of all people. Athena Asamiya...the _Psycho Soldier_. You people talk about Justice more than anyone I've ever met - and I've met Kim Kaphwan! You are absolutely the _last_ person I'd expect to let this go."

Athena took a long, calm sip of her tea.

"...I'm glad to hear you say that, Mary. That's exactly the image I _need_ to project, to inspire people. But the truth is, I'm a warrior. I've seen darker things than King of Fighters; I've fought for my _life_ , even. And what it's taught me is that good and evil aren't always black and white."

"Oh, for c - _fuck_ good and evil! This is about right and wrong‼" Mary cried.

"Nooo...it's about cause and effect," Athena countered. "Through unspeakable actions, Chizuru Kagura has saved the world. Horrible as she is, she is the lesser of two evils. You told me _you_ started to think that, before she broke you. ...in fact that's probably the reason she was _able_ to break you."

"You're blaming this on _me_ now!?" Mary screamed. "She was fucking with my head from the minute I got there! I didn't know _what_ I was thinking! I don't even know what was _real_ ‼" Then she narrowed her eyes bitterly. "I was counting on you to tell me that. ...but you're not a _comics_ psychic, are you?"

"Mary..."

"You monsters are all the same," she shouted, springing up from her seat. "You get a little power, and you think you're above the law. Well you're _not_. Justice is coming for her, Athena, you mark my words. And if you try to stop me, it'll be coming for you, too."

She threw a few dollars at the table, turned and stalked off.

"Mary, wait...!" Athena pleaded, reaching a hand out to her. She didn't listen, and then she was gone...and Athena's hand pulled back, as she leaned her head in both of them. She didn't have the heart to go after her; Mary had every right to be pissed. But the farther she got, the more Athena feared for the world.

She had just decided to call her when she stalked back into the bar, blowing right past the flustered doorman.

"...it would seem that my _kanji_ is rusty," Mary muttered, her cheeks cherry red.

"Apology accepted," Athena said with a smile.

* * *

Over the next few hours, Athena treated Mary well. She got her a new cell phone, signed her up for railway service, and even rented her a hotel room (all under a fake name, of course). Between that and the gentle-but-constant debate, she managed to break Mary too, convincing her to at least wait a few days before dooming them all. She left the hotel around sunset, giving Mary her address and a friendly goodbye; then she drove straight home, using her GPS system to get there as soon as possible.

Then she cancelled all her appointments for the next three days.

Then she called up her best research contacts and asked for a favor.

Then she sat down at her desk and turned on her computer, not intending to leave it for many, _many_ hours.

She had homework to do.

* * *

Unfortunately, someone _else_ was doing her homework as well.

Chizuru had always planned to keep tabs on her new Blue Mary, making sure she didn't do anything too suspicious. And for a couple days, things had gone well. She'd finished both her patrol shifts, and even made some arrests. She'd been spotted at the Pao Pao, partying with Terry. No new credit requests; no strange charges on her cards; no activity at all on her checking account. After the second day, Chizuru thought it just might be over, and she started breathing normally again.

So imagine her surprise when an informant in Osaka reported a passport stamp for one Mary Ryan.

Ridiculous. Impossible. _Inconcievable._ Seething, she told the man he was fired and to never call her again. But paranoia quickly set in, and she hacked into Kansai International's surveillance records. After an hour-long search, she roared loud enough to shatter her windows, as she saw a barely-recognizable Blue Mary exiting Terminal 2.

Immediately, she called up her driving service. She needed to go to Osaka, and she needed it _now_. Of course she didn't know _where_ to go in Osaka - but she could find out. She had connections to every hotel in Japan, and she fully intended to exploit them.

But first she had _another_ phone call to make.

'...Kagura, what the _shit_. It's fucking four A.M. here.'

"You lied to me."

'...care to be a little more specific?'

"You said you finished your latest assignment. You didn't."

'I don't know what you're talking about.'

"Don't lie to me about _lying to me_ , Iori."

'No, seriously. I have _no idea_ what the fuck you're talking about. It's _fucking four A.M._ '

"The _clone_ , remember? The NESTS clone? The one that copied Blue Mary⁇"

'...oh. Right. That thing. ...yeah, I didn't wanna do that.'

"I told you, it was _necessary_. The clone - "

'No, what you _told_ me was bullshit. You said it was a shapeshifter spreading mold around or something. All I saw was a crappy copy of a crappy reporter.'

"She's a _detective_ , Iori. And it wasn't _spreading_ \- "

'I don't care, alright? Point is you said it was dangerous. I tested it; it wasn't. So I left it alone. End of bullshit.'

"Then why did you tell me you killed it⁇"

'Because I knew you'd get like this, Kagura. You've been a real pain in the ass lately. I figured the NESTS thing would chill you out, but then you went right back to _ass_.'

"Iori - "

'You boss me around like you're my _boss_ or something. You used to call these jobs "favors", remember? Now they're _assignments_. And they're not _fun_ assignments, either. ...some of 'em suck.'

"These jobs aren't favors _or_ assignments! They're things that need to be _done_! To fight the NESTS cartel, remember⁇ The cartel that's nearly killed us both!?"

'...yeah? Then how 'bout _you_ fight 'em.'

"...you _know_ I can't - "

'No, seriously. You fight 'em for a while. _You_ kill two thousand people. _YOU_ kill a hundred lab experiments that don't even fight back. Then we'll compare notes.'

"Iori..."

'Look, we're done here, all right? I need more sleep before I can tolerate this much _ass_. We'll fight again in the morning.'

And then he was gone.

Chizuru laid her head on her seat with a long, loud sigh. _When did my life start falling apart every other week...?_

The driver still hadn't arrived (she'd probably fire him too), so she decided to make the time useful. She quickly tapped back into Kansai's surveillance records, knowing she'd have time to call the hotels during the drive. Desperately, she cycled from camera to camera, hoping to track Mary's progress.

She didn't see her leave the airport.

She didn't see her board a train.

She didn't see her buy a map, or call a taxi, or anything useful.

...but she _did_ see her accompanying a woman with a brown overcoat, a green shawl, and a few stray locks of purple hair.

* * *

For two days, Athena barely slept. She saw Blue Mary once; she took calls and emails from her contacts. Besides that she cut off all communications, even with Chin and Sie.

She needed to learn about Chizuru. She needed to learn what she could do. She needed to learn how to _fix_ this, how to _do_ something about it without destroying mankind. ...and, in case they had a confrontation, she needed to learn how to _survive_.

Late that night, her doorbell rang. She blinked, then groaned as she remembered: she'd stupidly ordered some takeout, hungry for a meal that took more than three minutes to make. Puzzling over how it got there so fast, she nevertheless jumped up and went for the entrance, undoing the locks without even looking through the peephole.

Then she opened the door, and came face-to-face with Chizuru Kagura.

"...oh, _fuck_."

* * *

End Notes

And now you see _another_ reason I started this fic. :)

Athena vs. Chizuru, people! Psychic vs. psychic! Take your bets‼ (But before you do, remember this is _Nano's_ Chizuru, with powers adapted from _but better than_ canon. I'm pretty much treating Athena the same way; she'll be Canon Athena, but with just a little bit more. ...and while this fic _will_ have a happy ending, there's still at _least_ two more chapters to go. }:D )

WHO WILL LIVE?  
WHO WILL DIE?  
WILL ANYONE ACTUALLY GET THIS REFERENCE⁇


	4. The Battle

Notes

 **telepathy**  
\- noun. The communication between people of thoughts, feelings, desires, etc, involving mechanisms that cannot be understood in terms of known scientific laws. _Also called: thought transference._

 **telekinesis**  
\- noun. Alteration of the state of an object by mental influence alone, without any physical intervention. _Also called: psychokinesis._

[Collins English Dictionary, © HarperCollins Publishers]

* * *

Chapter 4 - The Battle

"So you know."

Athena cringed. Well _this_ was starting off well.

"Where's Mary?" Chizuru asked at once, barging her way past Athena and into her home. The woman had worn her ceremonial battle garb; the girl had on a t-shirt and jeans.

"She's in a safe place," said Athena boldly - then cringed again, just from saying it. Already, the Mirror was magnifying her fear...

"I assume you haven't told anyone," Chizuru went on, falling on the bed like she owned the place as Athena closed the door. "I wouldn't be here right now if you had. But what did _she_ tell _you_?"

Athena couldn't decide whether to lie or not...at first.

"No, no one else," she suddenly blurted. Her brow furrowed a bit - but the words kept coming. "She told _me_ you tried to kill her, though. And killed Iori, and sold Kyo. She told me they think you're an angel, when you're really the _devil_."

At that she clapped her hands over her mouth, her eyes wide. She _definitely_ hadn't meant to say _that_ much.

Chizuru caught it, of course, and she let out a grim chuckle. "What's wrong, Athena? Being a little more honest than you'd planned?"

"...how could you?" Athena seethed, stomping back to the main room. Maybe she could fight the fear with anger. "How could you do that to them⁇ They fought for you. They _bled_ for you. They _stopped their feud_ for you. And now - "

"They didn't do any of that for me," Chizuru cut off. "They _put aside_ their feud for five seconds so we could seal Orochi. ...but that wasn't enough. That could only win the battle. I needed them to win the war."

"And so you _used_ them!" Athena cried, gaining momentum. "You used them like tools! You treated them like _dogs_ \- and then you made them your pets‼"

"To win the war," Chizuru repeated, her voice dark.

"There had to be - "

"There _was_ no other way," she snapped, sitting up so fast Athena jumped. "Do you _know_ those two idiots? Kusanagi won't do anything for anyone but himself. Yagami won't do anything for anyone, _period_. All either of them cared about was their stupid blood feud. But now they stand together. They _work_ together. They work for the forces of _good_. You tell _me_ how that happens, without them suffering for each other."

"You call yourself a force of - "

" _No,_ " Chizuru barked. "No changing the subject. Tell me, Athena."

"...that's not the - "

" _Tell me._ "

This time the demand came with a crushing mental onslaught, a wave of something Athena could only describe as _oppression_. She grunted in pain, holding her head, as the walls _inside_ it seemed to close in on her. She tried to resist it, but she didn't know _how_ ; she'd hoped her _own_ telepathy would help her - but it was nothing compared to this.

"...I don't know," she choked out, scowling. The oppression vanished; she sighed in relief. She recovered quickly, though, and added, "But that doesn't make it _right_!"

"It doesn't, you say? Well, what about the rest of it?" Chizuru countered. "Have you turned on the news lately? If you missed it, Europe is seeing a new Renaissance. Their economy is soaring, their crime rate is plummeting, and analysts expect a _decade_ of prosperity for them. Oh, and the waiting list for liver transplants is _gone_ , by the way. That was me, Athena. That was me in one night's work. ...well, me and my 'pets', of course."

"That is _not_ the way to do things...!" Athena claimed - but she was beginning to crack. Her anger was giving way to uncertainty...and that gave her enemy an opening.

"Maybe not _the_ way," Chizuru smoothly allowed. "But it's _a_ way. And it's a damn good one. No one can do what those boys do, and no one can make them do it but me. Like it or not, I haven't just _saved_ this world: I've made it a better place."

A thought flashed through Athena's mind. A strong one - strong enough for Chizuru to catch it. Greedily, she snatched it away from her brain...and then her eyebrows raised.

"...and you know it, don't you?" she asked her, staring in wonder as Athena gaped at her in shock. "You're not like Blue Mary. You know better...or you're more open-minded, at least. She hasn't talked because you don't _want_ her to; you _convinced_ her, just like I did. ...you agree with me."

"I do _not_ agree with you!" Athena cried, the theft of her thoughts bringing her anger roaring back. "I am nothing like you! You're a sick, twisted, _evil_ woman who only fights for vengeance. You drafted those two to fight for _you_ , and you have them do good when it _benefits_ you. I could never do what you did, no matter how much good it's done! And I'm only keeping your secret because I don't have a choice‼"

Chizuru narrowed her eyes.

"...vengeance, huh?"

Athena blinked. "Uhm."

"I never told Mary about my sister."

"Well. I mean...I just sort of _figured_..."

"You looked into me, didn't you?" Chizuru realized, standing up with a smirk. "You did research on me. Had _people_ do research on me. You dug up all the dirt you could...because you knew this could come to a fight."

"I knew you might try to _hurt_ me," said Athena, her face brave but her legs slowly backing away.

"That's how you talked to me that way," Chizuru went on as she followed her. "Even after feeling my power yourself. You've done your homework, and you think that gives you the advantage. ...well let's see what that 'advantage' is, shall we?"

She sent out another wave of oppression. Athena gasped as it hit her, her eyes closing as her hands flew to her temples. She tried to fight it again, but she didn't have a chance; soon she'd dropped to her knees at Chizuru's feet, shouting at her to stop...

...and then she felt it. She _felt_ Chizuru break her, felt her gain access to her mind. She felt her rifling through her memories, her head swimming as she saw them one after another. Her shouts became screams, and she fell to her hands _and_ knees...and then it all stopped in an instant.

"Telekinesis?" Chizuru said incredulously. "You're betting your _life_ on telekinesis? What good can _that_ do⁇"

"...you'd be surprised," Athena growled, looking up at her and scowling.

"Well you really should've used it earlier," Chizuru chuckled. "...because I don't have to find out."

Then she reached up to her chest - and _through_ it, sticking her fingers into her flesh as if it wasn't even there. They came out clutching the Yata Mirror itself, extracting it from her sternum. Stunned, Athena looked up at it, looked _into_ it without thinking. She saw her reflection for an instant...and then the mirror flashed.

With a yelp, Athena turned her head and squinted her eyes. The mirror only blinded her for a moment - but she soon realized it had done a lot more than that. Praying she was wrong, she tested her theory - but it was true. Chizuru had _sealed off her powers_.

"Oh, god," she whispered, as the fear took her completely.

"All right, Athena," said Chizuru, as she put the Mirror back in her chest. "I think the debate portion of the evening is over. ...now _where's Mary_."

"I...I don't know."

Chizuru snap-kicked her in the face, breaking her nose. Athena flew back in an arc and crashed against the wall, groaning in pain as she slumped over.

" _Where's Mary?_ " Chizuru barked. "...or should I pluck it from your thoughts...?"

"I really don't know!" Athena exclaimed, looking up with tears in her eyes. "...she's at one of the Westins, but I don't know which one. I got home using GPS."

"Give me the system, then," Chizuru ordered.

"I can't. I left it in the car. ...this is why," Athena added, with just a hint of a smile.

She paid for it, as Chizuru punted her in the ribs this time. Athena howled in anguish and fell to her side, curling into a ball.

"Then where's the _address_ ⁇" Chizuru hissed.

"...in my desk drawer," Athena gasped.

Frowning, Chizuru marched to the drawer and opened it up. Then she scowled, as she looked inside and found an unholy mess. She turned to Athena and briefly went back into her mind, confirming she was telling the truth. (Athena, focused on her injuries, didn't even notice.) "Later, then," she muttered, slamming the drawer shut.

She marched back slowly as Athena stared at her, trembling. Part of her was _screaming_ for her to fight - but the rest wanted to flee, just as badly. The fight-or-flight response had become a _decision_ in Athena's mind...and right now, Chizuru was making her decisions _for_ her. And she'd decided that Athena should lay there and wait to die instead.

"I have another question for you," Chizuru announced when she reached her. "Why exactly _didn't_ you use your telekinesis earlier?"

"I couldn't risk it," Athena groaned. "I don't want to kill you...you're too important..."

Chizuru blinked.

"Kill me? _...me?_ You still think you can _kill_ me⁇" She stepped right next to her, towering over her, her look of shock becoming a grin. "You're not in my _league_ , Athena! You're not even in my _sport_! How did you ever think you were⁇"

Athena said nothing, still clutching her ribs. Chizuru knelt down next to her, the grin becoming a smirk.

"I looked _you_ up once, you know. Hoping I could use you in the war. But you're pathetic. You can't read minds...cloud them... _bend_ them. ...you can't even read _palms_."

Her left hand reached down and seized Athena's neck, pulling her up. Meanwhile her right hand reached backward, fiddling with something in her sash.

"You're no psychic. You're a _magician_ , playing parlor tricks at a birthday party for children. A dozen fighters have more power, more _potential_ than you...and that's at King of Fighters alone."

Her left hand raised Athena further, and she looked right into her eyes.

"And I'm more powerful than _all_ of them."

Then her right hand stabbed a knife into Athena's chest, sinking it into her lung.

Athena let out a terrible cry, her pupils narrowing to points. Then it turned into a choking gasp, as Chizuru twisted the knife before tearing it out of the wound. The girl fell face-down to the floor, all but immobile; she was perfectly open for the killing blow. ...but the woman chose to let her bleed out instead, standing up and tossing the knife to the floor.

As she left for the desk, Athena fell into panic. This was bad, it was _bad_ , it was really _really_ bad; she couldn't move, couldn't _breathe_ , couldn't feel anything but pain. She didn't know if she'd go into shock or drown in her own blood first. Ironically, it was the latter she hoped for - the longer she suffered, the more chance she had to survive...

Meanwhile Chizuru tore through Athena's desk drawer, getting more frustrated by the second. Just how disorganized _was_ this girl!? There seemed to be _thousands_ of papers in there, coming in all shapes and sizes. She checked the small scraps first, but none of them had the address; she went through the larger ones for a second...then _yanked_ out the drawer in a rage, throwing it to the ground and scattering papers everywhere.

Grumbling to herself, she sat at the computer instead. She opened the browser and put in a search for every Westin Hotel in Kansai...

...and then her trachea closed.

Her eyes widened into saucers. She could still breathe, but barely. She put her hands to her neck, but felt only her throat, not whatever was attacking it. She whipped her head around to find the source...and then made her _own_ choking gasp, as she saw Athena slowly rising from the floor.

Her condition had improved dramatically. Her injury, once life-threatening, had become merely serious. She was no longer bleeding, no longer paralyzed by pain; even her nose looked pristine (aside from the blood there from earlier). Her chest wound still oozed, and her face looked disturbingly pale...but it stared right at Chizuru, with death in its eyes.

"Didn't know I could heal myself, did you?" Athena said in clipped tones. "It's one of my newer 'tricks'. The only one I _can_ do, when I'm hurt. ...but I know _all about_ your tricks, Chizuru. Like the fact that your seals only last a few minutes."

Snarling, Chizuru rushed at her foe. But Athena changed focus without even blinking, releasing the woman's throat to hurl her across the room instead. Chizuru hit the wall back-first, landing hard on her rump...and then her throat closed again, this time completely.

"You're right about telekinesis. It's not _that_ impressive," Athena agreed, as her enemy began to turn blue. "But I know a trick with that too now, thanks to Blue Mary. And it's got all _sorts_ of interesting applications."

She released Chizuru's trachea, and the woman gasped for air. Once she recovered, she scowled and started to rise - and then fell back with a shriek, as she felt the most intense pain she'd ever known.

A split second later, it vanished...along with all feeling below her waist.

"I've just misaligned your T7 vertebrae," Athena explained, her face a grim calm to her counterpart's frantic storm. "Not a lot. A little less than a centimeter. But if I don't fix it soon, you'll never walk again. The nerves in your spinal cord will die before anyone can save them."

" _Stop. This. NOW,_ " Chizuru growled, unleashing another mental onslaught. But she had long lost her foothold on Athena's mind, and the girl had found her defense: an unbreakable resolve.

"No, I don't think so," said Athena, shaking her head. "I think I'll show you some more."

She marched forward slowly, and now _Chizuru_ started trembling. Desperate, she threw a clone of herself out in front of her - but Athena caught it, Reflecting it away without even slowing down. Soon she was next to her, towering over her...and then she held out her hand.

"We'll start by detaching your retinas. ...there, and... _there_." Her words were accompanied by two sharp cries - and the total loss of her enemy's vision. "I got the maculas too, that's why you can't see at _all_. That's another one you'd better get fixed in a hurry."

"...monster..." Chizuru gasped.

"Right back at you," Athena muttered. "Hearing was trickier, but I figured it out. The brain 'hears' things when soundwaves bend little hairs in the ear; if they get bent too hard for too long, they break. So if I pinch the membranes together _just_ right..."

Her enemy screamed.

 _...you'll go deaf in eight minutes._

Chizuru didn't stop screaming. Athena frowned - then remembered. _Oh, and it'll sound like air horns are going off in your ears the whole time. Sorry, forgot._

"Stop it‼ ...stop this...!" Chizuru cried.

 _Can dish it out but can't take it, huh? All right, we'll cut to the chase._ She knelt down and stilled Chizuru's head with her hand; then, with a deep breath, she went inside.

 _THIS is the prefrontal lobe of the brain._ Athena tapped on it mentally; Chizuru yelped in surprise. _And THIS is the thalamus. There's four places where the two connect to each other; if I pull on them hard enough, the connections will snap. If I disconnect all of them? That's called a lobotomy. And it's permanent._

Chizuru's screams stopped abruptly, her useless eyes going wide.

 _Now I DON'T want to do that,_ Athena mentally sighed. _Lobotomies are a gamble; the effects are different for everyone. You might not even be able to use your Treasure anymore. ...but I'll risk it, now. I'll risk it if you won't keep me safe. And I'll sure as HELL risk it for Mary._

Chizuru said nothing, a tear rolling down her cheek.

 _So do you promise to never attack us again?_

 _...yes._

 _You are lying to me,_ "said" Athena coldly. _Your prefrontal cortex is lighting up. I can SEE it._ She tapped on it for emphasis; Chizuru shivered. _Now try it again. Do you promise me?_

 _Yes!_

 _Do you SWEAR it⁇_

 _...yes! Yes‼_

 _You're STILL LYING, Chizuru,_ Athena growled into her mind, accenting the words with two more taps. _Try again and MEAN it this time._

 _I swear not to -_

 _Again._

 _I - I SWEAR, I won't -_

 _Again!_

 _...I...I..._

 _Still need more motivation? All right, how about this:_ _ **I know you're not the last Yata.**_

Chizuru's jaw dropped.

 _You have a cousin in Nagoya. A great aunt, in Sicily. You even have a son, though he's too young to inherit the Mirror. You have backups, Chizuru, just like Kyo and Iori...and your bloodline carries the same way. Killing you wouldn't DOOM the world - it would be doing it a FAVOR. Now SWEAR IT‼_

 _I swear! I'll never attack you again! I mean it‼_

...and yet, somehow, she didn't.

 _You can't do it,_ Athena realized, scowling in awe. _You cannot MAKE yourself make those words true. I hold your LIFE in my hands, and you can't promise not to kill me‼_

 _Please. Please, Athena. I -_

 _Ten minutes,_ she snarled. _Ten minutes without attacking me, so we can talk this out. Can you give me that⁇_

 _...yes._

 _Do you swear it?_

 _Yes._

 _SAY it, Chizuru._

"I swear it."

Finally, _finally_ , Athena sighed.

She pulled out of her brain; she unpinched her ears. She reattached her retinas; she realigned her spine. She added a wave of healing energy, to make sure it all stuck. Then she stood up, backed off - and collapsed on her bed, exhausted but triumphant.

"...my _god_ ," said Chizuru, staring at her in disbelief. "You really _are_ the better psychic."

"Not really," said Athena, giving her a wan smile. "...I just had prep time, that's all."

* * *

End Notes

I do believe I've gone mad with power. 8)

Yes, I looked into all the medical stuff, and all of it _should_ be true. Of course, I'm not a doctor, so feel free to give me corrections. (Do it over PM, though, won't you? Don't want to spoil the fun for everyone else. ;)

So how do _you_ guys score that one? I call it a draw, myself. Sure, Athena won Round 2, but Chiz had her dead to rights in Round 1. Rubber match, anyone...?

Next time, I try to make the "other Yatas" bombshell actually work in this timeline. :P Hope to see you there!


	5. The Shred

Notes

Well hot damn! Six reviews, lol. That's the most I've ever gotten for a single chapter of a longfic. Thanks for reading, folks!

Things don't get near as nutty in this chapter, I'm afraid. This is mostly my desperate attempt to justify Athena not murdering Chizuru, even though she knows she's not the last Yata. It's always odd when an author scrambles to keep a villain around...but it's different in this case. It's not so much, "I don't want to kill a popular character" - it's more like, "the story won't _let_ me"...

Hope you enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 5 - The Shred

Athena wasted the beginnings of their truce in bed, relaxing and trying to recover. Meanwhile Chizuru sat up against the wall, lost in thought and staring into the distance. After a moment, Athena risked healing herself again, since the wound was still open and she couldn't always fix infections. She managed to close it - but nearly fell asleep in the process, startling awake just in time.

Sighing, she peeled herself off of the bed and sat up, swinging her legs over the side. "All right, Chizuru. ...let's talk."

"Why didn't you kill me," Chizuru asked immediately.

"Not yet," Athena told her, shaking her head. "First _you_ need to tell me why you did all this."

"You _know_ why," Chizuru replied, not meeting her gaze. "Staging the NESTS incident was the most efficient way to accomplish my goals. Not just reigning in Kyo and Iori, but ensuring King of Fighters' future. ...those tourneys _do_ cost a lot, you know."

"That isn't what I meant. That's just the _reason_ you did it. ...I need to know how you _could_."

Chizuru looked down with a sigh.

"You know that too, I'm afraid. When Orochi killed my sister, he killed me just the same. I became a revenant, existing for one purpose: revenge. But I was _worse_ than a revenant, because I had _right_ on my side; I knew that if I succeeded, the world would as well. It let me do terrible things to achieve victory...let me believe that, no matter what, it was for the greater good.

"...I still believe that, by the way," she finished, finally facing her foe. "And I don't think you can deny it."

Athena narrowed her eyes. "So that really makes it right to you, huh? You'd really do it all again, knowing what you know now."

"What I know now...?" At that Chizuru actually managed to smile. "Yes, I would. Of _course_ I would. You don't know what it was _like_ , dealing with those two. Any in-and-out business jaunt could turn into a twenty-four-hour nightmare."

"And you - "

"Did you know they're fugitives in Turkey?" Chizuru cut off, staring at nothing again. " _Both_ of them. Because Iori behaved how he _always_ does, except in an _airport_. They branded him a terrorist; they shut the place down. It could've been an international incident if Kyo hadn't helped him escape. ...on top of that, they delayed _me_ so much I had to stay the _night_ in that hellhole."

"Which is probably - "

"I wrangled those boys because I wanted some _peace_ ," Chizuru seethed. "That's it. That's all it came down to. Just peace. ...instead, I got two omnipotent allies who'll never betray me. I got enough money to fund anything I'd ever want. The _world_ got medical marvels and the best peacekeeping force in history. And you ask me if I would do it again⁇ I'd do it again in a _heartbeat_."

"...and _that's_ your problem," said Athena, with a look of resignation. "You _know_ you're evil, and you don't _care_. You're so concerned about the 'greater good' - and more importantly, yourself - that you think they justify _anything_. You don't regret what you've done. You don't want to atone."

At _that_ , Chizuru finally snapped.

"Atone⁇" she shouted, whipping her head around so fast Athena actually gasped. "You don't think I want to atone!? _Nobody_ deserves what happened to those boys‼ Or to Mary, for that matter‼ I may not _regret_ what I've done, Athena, but I don't _forgive_ it either. And if I could _begin_ to make it up to them, I would." She raised up her knees, laid her head on her arms. "...but nothing would ever be enough."

Silence.

"...so you would really atone."

"Yes."

"You really _do_ feel bad about this."

" _Yes,_ " Chizuru growled, glaring up at her.

She wasn't lying.

"There," said Athena, smiling. " _That_ , right there. _That's_ why I didn't kill you."

"...what?"

"I thought about killing you," she went on, already back to scowling. "I _wanted_ to kill you. ...a _lot_. But it would only make things worse. Never mind that I'd go to prison, or that the next Yata heir would have to clean up your mess. The _real_ problem is...it would devastate them."

Chizuru's eyebrows raised.

"Kyo and Iori have already hurt _so much_ because of you. But knowing what you did would make it hurt even more. They'd never work with the next Yata. They'd never work with each _other_. In fact, without your 'shining influence', they'd probably go back to killing each other - whether they knew what you'd done or not."

Chizuru nodded in agreement, impressed - and intrigued.

"Prison wouldn't work either. They'd find you and break you out - or kill you, if they knew. Best case scenario, the world's saviors are also its three most wanted criminals. And that's just stupid. No, the _best_ thing to do...to protect the world, if you were lost...would be to kill all three of you."

Her jaw dropped.

"And I would've done it, too," Athena whispered, her eyes glistening. "I'd have snuck up on them and cut their brainstems, no matter _how_ much it hurt. ...but I had to _know_. I had to know, without a doubt, that you didn't have a _shred_ of decency left in you. If you didn't, you'd be lost already, and they would be lost with you.

"...but you _do_ have that. You still have _some_ good in you, some conscience. You're worth saving, Chizuru, just _barely_...and it's worth keeping your secret. For their sakes," she finished, smiling even as a tear rolled down her cheek.

Chizuru smiled too for a moment. ...but then she smirked. "You're in _love_ with one of them, aren't you?" she accused, sounding almost girlish. "Kyo, I assume...?"

But Athena's smile instantly became an _intense_ look of hatred. " _If I loved him, you'd be dead right now,_ " she hissed, her aura flaring.

"All right, all right!" Chizuru blurted, her hands raised. "I'm sorry...!"

"...no, _I_ am," Athena sighed, calming herself. "It's just...he's a good person, that's all. They _both_ are. ...awful, but good."

"Yes, they are," Chizuru agreed.

Silence.

"So...you'll atone, then?" Athena asked.

Chizuru snorted. "You have any idea _how_...?"

"I do, actually," Athena replied with a smile. "It's simple, really: give people back what they've lost. Kyo and Iori, for example. They don't have the best lives, you know. Kyo still hasn't finished high school, thanks to you; fighting is all he knows, and that won't last him forever. On the other hand, Iori has a _wonderful_ career - but he's too angry and unstable to enjoy it."

"There's nothing to do about that. Iori's - "

"Then _find_ something," she urged. "Find a way to give them better lives - lives worth living, lives worth _loving_. Give Blue Mary _back_ her life, by calling off her clone. ...and pay her the job fee you owe her, while you're at it. Give restitutions to your victims - or, if they're already _gone_ , their families.

"As for me, I'd be happy if you just paid my cleaning bills," she huffed, looking around her bloodstained apartment and wrinkling her nose.

" _That_ I can do," Chizuru agreed with a smile. "As for the rest...I'll do what I can. And I'll keep you and Mary safe, of course."

"Thank you," said Athena, smiling back.

"...now what do I get in return?"

Athena blinked.

"In return...?"

" _Yes_ , Athena, in return. If you want me to do these things, I have to be willing to do them."

"Chizuru...we know your secret," Athena pointed out, sounding miffed. "If you atone, we won't tell. That's it."

"Well you can hardly expect me to take your word for it," Chizuru argued, smirking. "Just as you can't take _my_ word for it that I'll leave you and Mary alone. I fully intend to keep it, of course, but I could get new information later that would change my mind. Giving me what _I_ want gives you some insurance."

"...and what _do_ you want?"

"A guarantee," she said grimly. "I tried to kill you and Mary because I don't want my secret exposed. So I need to have a reason - a _good_ one - to believe that it won't be."

"Can't you just read our minds...?" Athena grumbled.

"Same problem," Chizuru replied, shaking her head. "A man's word is only as good as his bonds. Without some kind of penalty, you could change your mind whenever you liked. I don't care _how_ noble you are, Athena - if you heard that Iori had, say, burned down Boston, you _would_ tell authorities I might've put him up to it."

"Are you _planning_ to burn down Boston?"

"Of course not. Why would I burn down Boston?"

Athena sighed again, holding her temples and trying to figure this out. "...I don't suppose you'd take a sworn statement?"

"Not much better than your word, is it?"

"Then is there anything that _will_ convince you?"

"...well, there is _one_ thing."

And then she threw a Mirror Clone straight into Athena's chest.

It caught her completely off-guard; she couldn't even begin to dodge. Worse, Chizuru's aim was true: the clone's outstretched fingers jabbed right into Athena's wound, tearing it open. She fell back on her bed with a violent shriek, then curled up, clutching her chest.

"Nine minutes, thirty-seven seconds," Chizuru announced, checking her watch. "...I rounded up."

Athena didn't respond, too busy moaning in agony. She saw Chizuru standing, knew she needed to hit her _now_ \- but the pain was killing her focus. She soon realized she'd have to heal herself first...and then she might not have anything left.

"If it's any consolation," said Chizuru on her way to the knife, "you _have_ helped Kyo and Iori. You're right, Athena: those two deserve a better life. I'm not sure how I'll give it to them yet, but I will. _That_ , I swear."

Grimacing, Athena called up her healing energies, praying she wouldn't pass out. But just as she managed to stop the bleeding, another attack hit her - this time a mental one. The wave of oppression didn't hit nearly as hard as before, but it still got into her head. Between that and the pain, using _any_ psychic power was now totally out of the question.

"You two, however," said Chizuru on her way back, "are a different story. I could never trust you to keep my secret, and I certainly couldn't trust Mary. ...it's sad that I'll have to ruin, then _end_ her life - but if I didn't, I'd be ruining _mine_. And I think we can agree that mine's more important than hers...and yours too, I'm afraid."

She stood over her now, the knife in her hand. Athena braced herself, preparing for the worst. Savoring the moment, Chizuru raised her arm -

\- and the door busted open with a massive kick.

" _Freeze‼_ " screamed Detective Ryan, pointing a gun at Chizuru's head.

Chizuru blinked. Several times. She turned towards her numbly, the knife falling from her hand. "...huh?"

" _Hands up‼_ "

She complied without thinking, still sputtering along. "...wha - b, but - g...h - _how...!?_ "

"Video surveillance, bitch," Mary barked as she moved in. "Planted some cameras when I visited yesterday. Hauled ass as soon as I saw you at the door - and heard your _confession_ on the way over." She cuffed the woman's hands behind her back and grinned. "Chizuru Kagura, you are _so_ under arrest."

"...no," Athena gasped.

Startled, the two both turned to her at once. The mirror's power had faded, leaving Athena free to give Chizuru a glare. "Don't bring her in," she wheezed, shaking her head. "...I've got a better idea."

Then she stretched her hand forward, using her telekinesis one more time.

Chizuru cried out immediately, hunching over and wrenching Mary's arms. It felt like her heart, her _lungs_ , her _soul_ were being ripped from her body...but it was so much worse than that. She looked down in horror to find _the Yata Mirror itself_ emerging from her chest. Athena extracted it slowly, then whipped it into her grasp, putting it safely behind her bed.

"You want to stay out of jail," she told her, "you strike a deal with Blue Mary. You want us to keep your secret? Prove to her you'll keep us _safe_. ...you want to get your Treasure back? ...prove to her that you _deserve_ it."

"Prove to _us_ , you mean," said Mary, grinning like a loon.

But Athena smiled. "...actully, I think I'mma pass out now."

And she did.

* * *

End Notes

Betcha thought I forgot Mary was _in_ this thing, huh. ;) How'd she get a gun so fast in Japan, you ask? ...'s like Nano said, girl's got _connections_.

Athena's role here is kinda done now, actually. (Don't worry, she'll be okay.) We're shifting back to Chiz and her victims for the next chapter, which will also be the last. I'm not gonna pretend Chizuru actually gets arrested - I'm protecting the status quo here, dammit! - but negotiations are _not_ gonna go well for her, hehe. After that, expect some (hopefully) short but (hopefully) sweet epilogue scenes.

...I'm counting this as a win for Chizuru in the rubber match, btw. Say what you like, but she could've killed Athena _twice_. S'truth. (So you see? Athena doesn't _always_ win in my fics XD) ...on a similar note, I know full well that Iori has Instinct or whatever and a sneak attack would fail miserably. Sadly, Athena does _not_ know that. Good thing she didn't have to find out, huh ;)

See you for the finale!


	6. The Deal

Notes

Sorry for the slight delay on this one, folks. I decided some rewrites were in order :P Even so, this last chapter probably puts the nail in the coffin for this story fitting in with Nano's continuity. I eventually realized I had a choice: either make it less fun, to make sure it fit in...or give Chizuru the sendoff she _really_ deserves. ...sorry, Nano, but I had to go with the latter ;)

This chapter's a little longer than the others, so buckle up. I don't think it goes on long enough to _grate_ , though.

Hope you enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 6 - The Deal

Once Mary had dressed Athena's wound (and made sure she wasn't dead), she did something she said she never would: negotiate with Chizuru.

Of course, things were a little bit _different_ this time. It was about the worst bargaining position Chizuru could've found herself in: her powers were gone, her sympathizer was unconscious, her list of crimes was _captured on videotape_...and Mary had heard the whole thing. She knew she wasn't the last of the Yatas; she knew she could be killed. She might have done the job _herself_ , if Athena hadn't hoped to save her. Now Chizuru would have to convince Blue Mary, one of the smartest people she'd ever met, that they could save her and still get out alive.

The solution, ironically, was _actual_ contracts.

After several rejected ideas, Chizuru offered to buy Mary and Athena ten-million-dollar life insurance policies. She would arrange to be liable for the payout herself, giving her plenty of incentive not to kill them. But when Mary asked how she would even do that, Chizuru explained she'd probably set up her _own_ insurance agency. When Mary realized that meant Chizuru could specify the terms, she took things much, _much_ further than that.

She demanded the agency be a subsidiary of Kagura Pharmaceuticals, making _it_ liable for the payout.

She demanded the payout be, roughly, the net worth of Kagura Pharmaceuticals.

She demanded the policies be payable under _any_ circumstances, including suicide.

And, to fend off any more cloning shenanigans, she demanded she and Athena have small heart monitors implanted, then watched for flatlines or lost signals - all at Chizuru's expense.

Chizuru seethed. She _raged_. She called it blackmail and refused. Mary countered by reminding her that _blackmailing_ her wouldn't hurt the world at all. "So who would you rather do it to you?" she asked. "Heidern, or me?"

Only when she kicked through the window and started to jump did Chizuru win any concessions at _all_. To prove they wouldn't _keep_ blackmailing her, Mary offered for herself and Athena to sign contracts of their own: non-disclosure agreements. Chizuru, who knew those meant next to nothing between private entities, demanded they make the agreements with her company instead, making them potentially liable for all the damage it would take if she were lost. Mary, knowing they'd only break the agreements in extreme circumstances anyway, agreed.

Even then, Chizuru still worried about _unintentional_ disclosure. They could have it tortured out of them, she said, or even let it slip while _drunk_. Mary's only counter to that was to say, "You'd better not let us get too fucked up then, huh?"

(Between that and the any-circumstances clause, Chizuru wound up hiring _protection services_ for her enemies.)

Chizuru was already looking back at the window at this point. But then Mary - enjoying her role as judge, jury and possible executioner - announced that, on top of everything else, she wanted Chizuru to pay a _penalty_.

Once she'd pulled her back into the apartment, Mary explained (or, rather, _screamed_ ) that the penalty wouldn't go to _her_. It would simply be a charitable donation - a _big_ one, to a cause dedicated to fighting the kinds of awful things she'd done. When Chizuru asked which cause, Mary said _she'd_ have to choose. After some thought, she selected the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies; after a quick internet lookup, Mary agreed.

But then things quickly came to a head, as Chizuru - feeling she should get something in return - demanded Mary's surveillance tapes. Mary countered by reminding her the _penalty_ was _in return for_ her not going to jail. Chizuru raged; Chizuru seethed; Mary didn't care. Finally, Chizuru ran to the window once more.

...and Mary, looking at her tiredly, told her, "Go ahead."

Chizuru's eyes widened - then narrowed. She used her cuffed hands to pull the remains of the blinds from the window. Then she sat up on the sill and warned Mary, "I _will_ do this!"

"Then _do_ it!" Mary snapped. "Y'know why I'm even talking to you right now!? For Athena's sake! _She's_ the one that gives a shit about Iori and Kyo! Me, I'd _rather_ you all died! Three less monsters in the world‼ All you mean to _me_ , Chizuru, is a little less turmoil if Orochi ever _does_ get off his ass. And that's starting to be _not worth the trouble_."

Scowling, Chizuru turned away from her, swinging her legs out the window. She scooted forward on the sill, inches between her and oblivion. Finally, she looked back and screamed, "Last chance‼"

Mary didn't even blink.

Chizuru looked forward again. She swallowed. She leaned over and started to rise...

...and then sat back down again with an exasperated sigh.

Without a word, she turned around and slipped back into the apartment. Then she marched back to her seat at the desk chair, not even looking at Mary. Mary, for her part, kept up the same grim stare she'd been giving her since she got up. When she sat down, though, Mary spoke again, much more quietly.

"The tapes would violate the NDAs anyway, you nit. You know what I'm gonna do with 'em? I'm gonna have them _sealed off_ , and only released if we _both_ die. I'm not stupid, Chizuru. I know you're gonna fight this tooth and nail, have your lawyers search out every loophole they can find. That's what I'm keeping the tapes for: to keep you from _using_ them. They're not a bargaining chip - they're our last line of defense.

"Now I know you won't believe me. I know you might not sleep a _wink_ without those tapes. But if I gave them to you, I'd be putting _us_ in that position. And I don't have to do that...because _we won_."

Silence.

"...fine," Chizuru spat. "I'll pay your damn penalty, and you can keep the damn tapes. But _I want a copy_ of those disclosure terms. Understand?"

"Sure, I'll give you that. ...it's not gonna tell you where they _are_ , though."

"Of course not," Chizuru muttered, rolling her eyes. "And that is _it_. This 'negotiation' is over. We'll revisit every five years. Deal?"

"...deal."

Chizuru gave a terse, superficial bow from her seat. Mary started to extend her hand, then remembered the handcuffs and pulled back.

"So now what?" Chizuru asked.

"Well, we sleep here for the night. ...I'll cuff you to the desk, I guess. And in the morning, the three of us go out and start setting up this stuff."

"...or, you can trust me _just a little bit_ and let me use my phone, and I can get every bit of it done before sunrise."

Mary snorted. "No way in hell you could do that."

Chizuru smirked. " _Watch_ me."

And she did. Her left hand cuffed to the desk, Chizuru used her right hand to make a flurry of phone calls the likes of which Mary had never seen. Forms were drafted; accounts were drawn; companies were born. Once Athena woke up, Chizuru had the forms faxed to her computer, and Athena and Mary faxed them to their lawyers in turn. They all checked out, and after a marathon signing session, it was done. Mary and Athena had joined Kagura Pharmaceuticals just long enough to sign NDAs, Kagura Insurance had given them the biggest life insurance policies known to man, and their heart monitor implants were scheduled for the very next evening.

"...there," Chizuru sighed, as she finished her last phone call. She looked down at her watch and smirked; it wasn't even five A.M. Then she looked back up at Mary and Athena - both of them still a little spooked - and fixed them with a glare that turned it into full-on fear.

" _Now_ can I have my Mirror back?"

* * *

All that, however, only satisfied Athena's _second_ condition: that she and Mary be kept safe. Chizuru still had to prove that _she_ was worth saving - that she could do good as well as evil. And so, over the following days, a number of great things happened.

Several of her associates - or their families - received large sums of cash from unknown benefactors.

Kobeyashi's family received the biggest one - and an anonymous letter, which assured them he was _not_ involved with the mob and had died a great man.

A certain NESTS pilot's son received assistance from "Iceland's government", ensuring that he and his mother would never go without shelter or food.

Athena received a lengthy visit from Bears, the foremost - or at least most _expensive_ \- cleaning service in Osaka.

And the ones Chizuru hurt the most got the biggest gifts of all.

* * *

"Hello?"

"Is this Mary?"

"Yeah, who is _this_?"

"Well, for now...I'm Mary, too."

"...oh. Huh."

"Yeah. Kagura told me what happened."

"What exactly did she tell you?"

"Not a whole lot. She said everything happened like she said, but with a hitch in the middle. After the attack, we were _both_ knocked out, and they managed to mix up our bodies. You ran away, so they thought you were the clone - but Iori said you weren't dangerous, so they did some digging. Turns out, _I'm_ the clone...and _I'm_ the one that attacked."

"Is that so...?"

"So she says. She also said you kept your memories, which was why I woke up without any. The doctors didn't expect me to lose them, so they turned me over to her. Lucky for me, she knew just what to do about it."

"I see."

"Yep. ...so. How much of it is crap?"

"...a lot of it, I'm afraid. You _are_ the clone, but you didn't attack me. And the mixup wasn't a mixup. You were _supposed_ to be me for a while, while Kagura and I dealt with a...situation. She just didn't want you to know about it, so she went with a 'simpler' story. That's about all I can tell you, really. Just don't go looking into it...and don't you _trust_ her, either."

"Heh. Yeah, I kinda figured that last part."

"So what did I miss while I was out?"

"Nothing much. Couple of arrests; a drug bust. Howard's been making moves lately, but just on the business end. Everybody's pissed off at Joe right now 'cause he said something stupid. I haven't heard what it was, but I doubt it really matters. ...oh, and apparently Anton ran away? That might be more of Kagura's nonsense, but I don't know what else could've happened."

"Yeah. I, uh, heard about that one. ...so how's Terry?"

"Not so great. He's had the flu all week, or at least one hell of a head cold. I've kinda been babysitting him, actually."

"Really? But I thought you two went to the Pao Pao Cafe."

"That was _his_ idea, when I screwed up and _called_ him a baby. Little bit sensitive, isn't he?"

"...wait a sec. Does that mean that...you two never...?"

"'Never' _what_? The two of us? ...oh. _OH!_ Oh, god, _no_. You know we don't do sick people."

"Oh, thank _god_."

"Oh wow. Uhm... _yikes_. ... _that_ could've been awkward."

"Tell me about it. I wasn't looking forward to yelling at Terry for cheating on me with _me_."

"Listen, I'm...I'm _really_ sorry about all this. ...I feel like a monster."

"Hah! No, you're not the monster here. ...hell, you're almost as big a victim in this as _I_ am. A more _innocent_ victim, too."

"Heh, I can't believe you're being so cool about this. I think I would've started screaming by now."

"You don't know how glad I am to just be _alive_."

"...so what now?"

"Well, I've already contacted an identity theft agency. They're not gonna prosecute though, it's just a precaution. I don't mind both of us being around, but we can't both be _me_ , and we probably shouldn't both be in Southtown either."

"Agreed."

"I've still got all my keys and such, and your replacement cards probably haven't come in yet. So I just want you to leave your new badge on the table, go get some fake IDs and hop on a bus or something. ...it'd be nice if you were gone when I got home, but you can take as long as you need."

"Eh, I shouldn't need long. Mary Ryan seems to have a _lot_ of connections."

"Damn right she does. ...I guess this means no hard feelings, then?"

"I don't have any if you don't."

"Thank goodness, heh. My place is kind of at your mercy right now, after all."

"No need to worry. It'll be like I never got here."

"Great. Thanks. ...so, where will you go from here?"

"Well, I _might_ sign on with another police force, since I know so much of the training. But I've built up a _lot_ of aggression over this whole thing. So I'll probably try out the fight game instead, and see if I can let some out in the ring. ...thinking of calling myself ' _Red_ Mary'."

"Hey, don't you go trading on my good name. What if people get us confused?"

"Hmm. True enough. ...all right, how about _Ex_ -Mary?"

"...that could work."

* * *

"Kagura."

"Oy. Chiz."

"Hello, Kyo."

"Yeah, yeah, how are ya. Listen, I just got this thing in the mail, and I can't make heads or tails of it. Thought I might run it by you before I talked to a lawyer or whatever."

"Is it something about college?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Because I sent it. _That_ is information about a new educational program I've set up for you. To put it simply, you now have a permanent scholarship."

"...what?"

"From now on, Kyo, you can go to any college that'll have you. Learn whatever you want, for as long as you want. Take one class a semester for the rest of your life if you like. ...the program doesn't cover room and board, though, so you'd better learn something you can turn into a career. And of course _no_ college will have you until you finish high school - but I can arrange for tutors, if you'd like some help with that."

"...Chiz...this is...I don't know what to say. ...yes I do, _why_ ⁇"

"Because you suffered more than physical damage during the NESTS incident. You suffered a gap in your schooling, a serious blow to your development. You've helped me more than I've helped you - "

" _No_ I haven't!"

"Yes you have. ...you really, really have. And I don't want to see you languish. This program is meant as incentive for you to go back to school, to get your life back on track - or that part of it, at least. I _do_ hope you try it, and I'll support you in any way I can."

"Man. Chizuru, I...thank you. Thank you _so_ much. Really. ...but..."

"But?"

"I mean...that kinda thing's a waste on me, you know? I'm not a college guy, Chiz. I'd never make it there. You say it's incentive, but it's like...go back to school, so I can go on to more school...?"

"Hmm...I see. Well, that _last_ part makes sense, at least. So is there something that _would_ give you incentive?"

"Uhhh... Well... There's that new Suzuki SV I've had my eye on..."

"Hehe. Never change, Kyo."

* * *

"Kagura."

"What the hell is this?"

"...and good morning to you too, Iori."

"You throw a bitchfit at four A.M. You don't call back about it for days. And the next thing I get from you is a _package_? A package full of goofy-looking CDs?"

"Did you read the message that came with them?"

"I could've. Or I could've talked to you. I did that."

"...because I _never_ have business meetings at this time of day..."

"Perfect. Works out for both of us then. Now _spill_."

"They're _music_ cds, Iori. Traditional Japanese folk music. I think you'll appreciate it, actually. Go ahead, put one on."

"You ever heard of streaming services? File-sharing websites? The _iPod_?"

"Certainly. But music sounds so much better played straight from the CD, don't you think?"

"Says someone who doesn't know jack about music. ...alright, lemme start it..."

"..."

"..."

"...well?"

"It sucks."

"You make gift-giving _so_ rewarding, Iori. But seriously: it doesn't _pull_ at anything inside you? You don't feel anything at all?"

"Should I?"

"Hmm. Well that's disappointing. But answer me this: what are you feeling from Riot right now?

"..."

"Iori?"

"...nothing. I...absolutely nothing."

" _Good._ Excellent. That was the point of it, anyway."

"Explain."

"You're listening to a music style traditionally known as _honkyoku_. It was originated by Zen buddhist priests in the 13th century. They played it for meditation and enlightenment - to keep themselves calm. And it looks like it reached the Yasakani, just as my research indicated."

"Explain _faster_."

" _You_ may not feel anything from that music, but your _curse_ does. It remembers _honkyoku_ as something calming and soothing, just as your relatives must have six hundred years ago. And probably still would, if Japan hadn't banned it for a while. Long story short, whenever you need Riot to shut the hell up, play that music. I'm not sure if it'll work as well over headphones, but it should definitely help you at home."

"...this is... Wow. ...holy _shit_."

"I _thought_ that might make it more appealing."

"This's one hell of an apology, Kagura."

"No, that wasn't the apology. ...I'm _sorry_ , Iori. I'm sorry for being an ass lately. And for asking so much of you. And for putting you _through_ so much. And - "

" _Stop._ Enough already. Apology accepted."

"Glad to hear it. You'll use the music, then?"

"Damn straight, heh. ...well, if I can _stomach_ it."

"Hehe. Try your best, Iori."

"Yeah, sure. Thanks. And...uh...sorry." *click*

"Apology accepted."

* * *

Finally, a full week after she left, Mary came home.

Everyone was _stunned_ with her new look. Some loved it; some hated it; some outright wept. She refused to tell any of them what brought it on, just as she refused to tell them why she suddenly seemed _normal_ again after three weeks of weirdness. She even refused to tell Terry, no matter how much he poked at her. It hurt her to do so...but the man never _could_ hold his liquor.

Later that night, and after a lovely reunion, the two laid in bed together, swimming in bliss. Mary had always felt _safe_ in Terry's arms (though she'd always kind of hated herself for it too), and she'd never felt safer than she did in them tonight. ...and yet, in a small way, she _didn't_ feel safe. Not completely. And maybe not ever again.

"...how do you do it, Terry?" she whispered.

"...eh?"

"How do you deal with...your _life_? You sign up for every godawful tournament you can. You fight psychos that could kill you with a _blink_ , sweet little girls that could rip your heart out of your chest. I know you're strong as hell yourself, but...they're _monsters_ , Terry. How do you fight them? How do you even _talk_ to them...?"

"Well...I guess...I don't think about it."

"How⁇"

"Look at it this way. _You've_ done covert ops training, right? You could kill me in my sleep without making a sound - without even waking me up. I _could_ worry about that...but I trust you, Mary. Not just 'cause you're my gal, but 'cause you're a decent human being."

"And you think all of those monsters are _decent_?"

"Pfft, _hell_ no. Iori Yagami's a goddamn nutcase. But he still wants to live a normal life, and he _knows_ how to do it. So you can talk to him, fight him, and still be just fine. Just don't push him too hard, and he won't push hard back, you know?"

"...you're an eternal optimist, aren't you, Terry?"

"Heh, you could say that. But I've got a point this time, don't I?"

"...yeah. Yeah, I _guess_ you do."

"Cool. Now c'mere. Let's go back to sleep, okay? ...I can give you all the protection from monsters you need."

" _Pfffft._ Only if you'll let me protect you first."

"Deal."

Terry pulled Mary close, and she nestled back into him, feeling safe in his arms.

* * *

End Notes

...I'll admit, this one almost got me. I got so hung up on the details - what terms Chizuru could live with, how much she'd try to fight back - that I started to think there _was_ no happy ending here. Only by saying " _fuck_ continuity" could I come up with something that might even come _close_ to fitting in it. Thankfully, I had that luxury; Nano didn't. So don't blame her for going with a badend, ok? ;)

I also want to give a _long_ overdue thanks to her here for inspiring this story. Plus, once she knew about it, she also helped out with it in several ways - character advice, legal factoids, etc. Nanomemes' Chizuru is one of the best things going in this fandom right now, and I can't wait to see what she does next. Who knows, maybe I'll even wind up taking her down a peg again! (...the character, not the author, hehe.) Many thanks, Nano!

I haven't the slightest idea what my next story will be. My "volatility" is at an all-time high right now. But I _can_ tell you this: a fellow author has challenged me to write a _different_ kind of story. That's what I'll _try_ to do next; here's hoping I manage it, heh.

See you next time!

* * *

Epilogue

'Kill the dog.'

"What?"

Iori froze in place in front of the bar, staring at his phone in disbelief. What the fuck did Kagura have _against_ this thing? Did it beat her at checkers or something?

'The mold may have spread. I don't want it to reproduce. Kill it. Burn its corpse. Tell Mary it ran.'

*... wait! but - "

He nearly said, "There _is_ no mold. Whatever you're worried about that thing doing, it _can't_. You're out of your goddamn mind." ...but then he'd have to tell her he didn't kill it, and then he'd have to hear the screaming. He didn't want to have to deal with that shit. He was _tired_ , goddamnit.

'I won't risk the population of SouthTown for the life of an animal. Who knows what sort of things NESTS put into it. If an outbreak begins in SouthTown, will you take responsibility? Take care of it before Mary comes back. This is urgent. Please understand.'

"I - ...fine. Shit."

He looked over at Anton, still in Mary's patrol car. The dog sat with his head out the window, panting dully and staring at nothing. Sure, Iori _trusted_ Kagura - but she'd already been wrong tonight once. And he just couldn't _make_ himself see this thing turning vicious. It was the most peaceful-looking bloodhound he'd ever seen in his life.

Scowling, he took a quick look around the street. He didn't find what he wanted at first; the place was nearly deserted. Then he spotted it: a stray pitbull, laying at the back of an alley. He wasn't sure for a second, thinking it'd be too far for Kagura to hear...but then it saw him and started trotting for him, like a lamb to the slaughter.

 _Perfect._

Once the deed was done, Iori sauntered over to Mary's car. Anton just looked at him curiously, not making a sound. Iori opened the door - and the dog came right out, acting as if he had known him all his life. "C'mon, you little shit," he muttered, stalking back to his car; Anton followed obediently.

And then they were gone, tearing away in Iori's Mustang and heading back to his apartment. If Anton was at all worried about this turn of events, he didn't show it. Moreover, he took a quick shine to Iori, trying to nuzzle his arm as he drove down the street. "Gedoff me," he growled, shrugging him away. "...you shit on the furniture and you're dead."

Anton barked at him happily.

Iori clicked his tongue and turned away.

* * *

[...yyyep, Iori has Anton now. Will he ever give him back? That's for you to decide :) ]


End file.
